Mr. Deaglán Ó Briain:

I thank the Chair for the opportunity to be here.

Once the O'Malley review was published, the Minister, Deputy McEntee, asked the Department to prepare an implementation plan within ten weeks. The plan, Supporting a Victim's Journey, was published in October 2020. Delivering on all the agreed actions is a priority for the Department and a personal priority for the Minister. The most important point to make at this stage is our commitment as a Department to working in partnership with the domestic, sexual and gender-based violence, DSGBV, sector to ensure the victim's perspective and voice are at the heart of what we do. Crucially important physical and emotional supports and services are provided by NGOs, and the reform and development of these services should be progressed in a spirit of co-design between the State as funder and the voluntary sector as provider. I see in the room today many of the NGO colleagues with whom we work closely in implementing Supporting a Victim's Journey.

As to what we have done thus far, we have reviewed our grant schemes for organisations working with victims of crime. We asked each NGO to identify the precise categories of victims with whom they work, the services they provide and the geographical areas in which they work. The funding available increased from some €2 million in 2020 to some €4 million this year. We have allocated most of the 2021 grant moneys but are still analysing the data to see where gaps in service provision remain so we can work to fill them. We are also offering multi-annual funding commitments to a number of NGOs with which we work most closely and where the funding covers staff salaries. This is in the interest of promoting more sustainable service delivery and planning.